Roy's a Big Softy (At Heart)
by PaiigeCourtneyy
Summary: Roy finds an abandoned, injured kitten whilst out walking one day, so what does he do? He takes it home of course! One-shot; complete.


**This was wrote for the Young Justice Anon Meme, in the hopes that this isn't too late to fill, aha.**

**Roy's a Big Softy... (At Heart)  
**

****Roy finds an abandoned, injured kitten whilst out walking one day, so what does he do? He takes it home of course!

* * *

The rain pounded hard against the bare streets of Star City, the unfortunate souls caught out in it heading for shelter as quickly as they could.

Water splashed up his legs as the people all around him ran, some sporting umbrellas and other's covering their heads with their newspapers.

The sudden downpour was unexpected, to say the least.

Roy Harper walked at a leisurely pace, not perturbed by the oncoming storm in the least.

With his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, he walked from street corner to street corner, not really caring about anything.

In truth, he was thinking.

Thinking about his departure, about the way he treated Ollie, about how he turned his back on the team, about the way he really m- "Mrow?"

His head snapped up at the sound.

It was a pathetic excuse for a meow, if he was being honest. (And he was – thinking time was all about honesty, after all.)

The corner of his eye caught the shifting of several sheets of cardboard by the mouth of an alley.

Approaching the heap, frowning, -because really, who on earth lets their cat out in this weather? - He crouched down, reaching out gingerly towards the soggy paper. There was a hiss and a sudden strike of a paw as the cat reached out and batted his hand away.

Roy rolled his eyes, standing up again.

He wasn't going to bother if the cat didn't want to be bothered.

As he began to walk away, he once again heard the feeble meowing attempt. It sounded pained.

Sighing, and cursing his soft heart and inability to ignore animals, he turned back to the cardboard.

He could see a little pale pink nose sticking out, it's whiskers collecting droplets of water.

Instead of walking back towards it, he crouched down where it was, his hand extended.

"Come on, kitty." He said softly, hoping this wouldn't take too long – he wasn't thinking anymore, and the rain was starting to chill him.

After several moments of a repeated "Come on, kitty." And some clicks from Roy, the little kitten eventually left it's hiding spot.

Roy couldn't have been happier.

Especially when he realised the state it was in.

It was a kitten, no more than 9 weeks old.

The fur, which he presumed had once been white, was matted and streaked with mud, soot and was- was that _blood?_

He was limping slowly, and as he drew closer, Roy could clearly see why he appeared to be in pain. His left eye had been gauged out, and was bleeding freely. It looked recent; no more than a day or two old.

Roy really hated his soft heart right now.

Goddamn animals.

When the kitten was in reaching distance, he grasped it gently but firmly around the stomach, tucking it gently in the insides of his jacket.

He took off at a sprint, heading for the nearest veterinary centre.

The kitten, it turns out, was originally white, with two ginger patches on its head and black stripes along its tail.

There was nothing the vets could do to salvage the eye, so they had stitched the wound up, with instructions to Roy on how to keep it properly sterile.

Roy had taken the critter back to his flat with him, effectively dubbing him as 'Miles.'

* * *

The first person to find out about Miles was Kid Flash, eight months after Roy had taken him in.

Roy sat on the sofa, flicking through the channels. There was nothing interesting on any of them; typical.

Miles was rubbing his head against Roy's leg, an action he now allowed since there was no danger of him pulling out the stitches. Roy responded by petting the restless kitten, scratching behind his ear, just as he liked it.

Miles purred a soft noise that vibrated through the otherwise silent flat.

There was a knock at the door.

Sighing, Roy heaved himself up, ignoring Mile's attempts to pull him back down by clawing at his harm as he walked past.

Annoyed that his human was ignoring him, the kitten stalked off, presumably to sulk in the shadows as he so often did when Roy got visitors – not that he regularly did.

As soon as the door was open, Wally zipped through, landing with a relieved sigh on the sofa.

"Wally," Roy stated sourly, shutting the door, "Why don't you come in." He turned to glare at the impish redhead on the sofa.

"Evening, Spee-Red Arrow!" Wally chirped. Roy grunted back, going to sit on the sofa besides him.

"Why are you here?" He ground out, wondering what kind of trouble the speedster had gotten himself into this time.

After all, he only came here when he wanted to hide.

"What, I can't come and visit my friend without their being an ulterior motive?" Wally said, feigning both confusion and innocence.

Roy didn't buy it.

"Okay, okay." Wally caved, faking a shudder at the cold look Roy was giving him. "Boy, are you a hard crowd. I just need a place to crash for the night, all right? It's Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris' anniversary, so I figured they could use some time alone, y'know? So is it cool if I stay here?"

Roy suppressed a sigh. "I suppose so." He muttered. Wally's face practically glowed as he let out a 'whoop!' of excitement. "But you're sleeping on the couch." He added, remembering how Wally, who nodded fast, had a tendency to both talk and kick in his sleep.

When Roy stood up to leave the room, Wally immediately kicked off his shoes and sprawled out across the sofa. "Thanks again, man, I owe you one." He called to Roy as Roy retreated to his room, hoping for at least a good seven hours of sleep.

When Wally woke up, it was still dark outside.

Disorientated, he blinked slowly, letting his eyes clear up his hazy vision.

There was something on top of him.

"What the-" He started to ask before something launched at his face, swiping him across the cheek. "Um, ow." With his eyes now adjusted, he could clearly see what had just attacked him

It was a cat.

With one bright, blue eye staring murderously at him.

Freaky wasn't the word.

Miles bared his teeth, hissing, preparing another attack on the boy who had stolen his human for the night.

Wally reacted just in time, yelling and batting the creature away from him.

Miles landed on the table beside the couch, his tail swinging and knocking off the lamp. It didn't smash, but it wasn't exactly quiet.

Roy came running in moments later, clad in only his boxers, holding a baseball bat for security.

He fumbled for the light switch and immediately narrowed his eyes at the scene.

Resting the baseball bat against the wall, he hissed: "What the _hell_ is going on?!" to which Wally exclaimed,

"That thing over there! It's evil! It attacked me!" Roy looked from Wally, to Miles, and then back at Wally.

"That _thing," _he began, walking over to Miles and picking him up, "Is Miles. And he wouldn't hurt a fly. So will you _please_ keep it down, _I am trying to sleep."_

"But!"

"Zip it." Roy headed back to his room with Miles, the cat looking at Wally in a way he would call smug.

'_Evil.'_ Wally mouthed at it, before settling back down on the couch.

He just hoped Roy didn't have any more animals.

* * *

The next, and hopefully the last, person to find out about Miles was Robin.

Miles liked to play.

Specifically, he liked to play with Roy and string.

More specifically, he enjoyed it the most when Roy was the one dangling the string. Particularly if said string had a jingle bell attached to it.

They would play for hours every day, especially if it was one of those days where Roy just wasn't feeling himself.

Miles always helped cheer him up; he was glad he had taken him in.

They always played in the living room, on the floor in front of the sofa near his scratch post, which he'd sometimes climb up in order to pounce on top of Roy's head.

That was how Robin found them, actually, with Miles perched on top of a laughing Roy's orange hair.

Neither of them had noticed him, and he was enjoying the show too much to interrupt.

He had come in through the open window, intent on surprising the older boy.

Instead, it was him being surprised, but pleasantly, at least.

He watched, a silent observer, as the two interacted. He knew Roy was soft at heart, but he never imagined…

He was grinning, barely containing his laughter as Roy cradled the kitten into his chest. The cat snuggled into him, closing its eyes and mewing softly. Robin couldn't help it – he got out his camera phone and snapped a picture.

It was perfect blackmail material.

They didn't play after that, instead opting to just cuddle. Roy was stroking it softly, giving it a scratch every now and then.

Deciding he didn't want to be unknown any longer, Robin made his way over and sat beside him.

He was still grinning when Roy suddenly turned his head and literally jumped out of his skin, the kitten hissing and retreating to the one of his holes on the scratch post. "_Holy shi- ROBIN!" _ Roy yelled, his hand clutching at his chest, where his hammering heart lay.

Robin laughed out loud this time, reaching his hand out for the kitten to sniff. "Hey there little guy," He said softly, "What's your name then?" He glanced back at Roy momentarily as Miles climbed back down from his post, walking towards the pair.

"Miles." Roy rasped out, before clearing his throat. "His name is Miles." Robin nodded, stroking him.

"How old is he?" He asked as the cat climbed into his lap and began rubbing it's head on his stomach.

"About 10 months… How the hell did you get in here?!"

Robin shrugged, "The window was open."

"No it wasn't." Roy rarely had his windows open anymore – he didn't want to risk Miles escaping and getting injured.

"Details, details." Robin waved him off, staying nonchalant.

Roy rolled his eyes, checking over his shoulder to see if Robin had shut the window behind him.

He had.

"So… why are you here?" Robin was just like Wally; only showing up when help was needed.

"I kind of… need somewhere to stay for the night." Robin stated, still stroking his cat.

"And I should help you out because…?" Honestly, his flat wasn't some kind of free charging hotel!

"Because we're bro's." Robin stated simply. Roy was instantly on edge when he saw the corners of Robin's mouth start to twitch. "And also…" He got out his phone, quickly showing Roy the picture he had taken earlier.

Poor Miles went back to hiding in his post when Roy suddenly lunged at Robin, chasing him around the living room.

**Thank you for reading!**


End file.
